- Title: GERMANY, VE DAY - PAINFUL DEBATE
- Date: 1st August 1995
- Summary: HALBE, NEAR BERLIN, GERMANY (RECENT) (REUTERS) MEMORIAL SERVICE AT WAR CEMETERY AT HALBE, NEAR BERLIN / GERMAN WW2 VETERANS AT CEREMONY (APRIL 30, 1995)
- Embargoed: 16th August 1995 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Conflict,History,Politics,People
- Reuters ID: LVAA0TD0MRAXH67FD8MIDBZJCESM
- Story Text: While most of Europe celebrates the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, in Germany, there is much soul-searching about how the event should be marked and remembered.
A heated debate is underway in Germany about the meaning of May the eighth - while many see it as marking the end of tyranny and dictatorship, rightwingers say it is a day of mourning, as it marks the beginning of Germany's division.
-------------------------------------- Buried here, at a war cemetery near Berlin, are some of the millions of German soldiers who died in the battles of the Second World War.
Threse veterans gather for a quiet ceremony to mourn their fallen comrades and to reflect on their own painful memories. While the rest of Europe marks the 50th anniversary of Germany's defeat with victory celebrations and services for their dead, Germans stand on the sidelines, still searching for a way to deal with their country's Nazi past.
The anniversary has sparked a raging national debate about what VE day mweans for the Germans. Was it the day they were liberated from Nazi tyranny, or was it a day of humiliating defeat and the start of a cruel era that turned millions of Germans into refugees and divided the nation? At war's end, Germany was a ruined country. Its cities had been destroyed by Allied bombings, and millions of its soldiers and civilians were dead. These veterans remember the hopelessness they felt at the time: (WALTER SCHAEFER-KEHNERT, BATTALION COMMANDER IN THE ARTILLERY REGIMENT OF THE 11TH OANZER DIVISION, 1945) "AT THAT TIME, WE DIDN'T THINK ABOUT LIBERATION. IT WAS A RELIEF THE WAR WAS OVER. ON THE OTHER SIDE WAS SUFFERING, AND THE FUTURE LOOIKED SO HOPELESS FOR US WITH ALL THE DESTRUCTION. THAT WAS OUR VIEW IN 1945." (ENGLISH) As the Third Reich collapsed, 12 million Germans were brutally driven from their homes in the eastern territories, fleeing an advancing army which was raping and plundering to avenge the suffering the Nazis inflicted in the Soviet Union. Tjhey abandoned all they had and were never allowed to return becaused defeated Germany was forced to give up this land under terms dictated by the victorious Allies.
The eastern half of the country was occupied by the Soviet Union, and condemned to 40 years of Communist dictatorship.
But talk of Germany's wartime suffering is a controversial issue here, as many feel it is the price they had to pay for starting the war and supporting Hitler.
At this exhibition in Berlin, photographs clearly show the devastation of the defeated Germany. These Berliners reflect on their country's role in the war and the nation's responsibility for its own suffering.
(FRIEDEGUND HOLZMANN) "IT WAS A LIBERATION, LIBERATION FROM NATIONAL SOCIALISM. WE HAD MANY BAD EXPERIENCES. WE HAD TO LEAVE OUR HOME AND FLEE TO BERLIN.
BUT THE MADNESS WOULDN'T HAVE STOPPED IF THE ALLIES AND THE RUSSIANS HAD NOT PUT AN END TO IT." (GERMAN) (WILFRIED KLAUSS) "UNFORTUNATELY THE GERMANS WERE INCAPABLE OF LIBERATING THEMSELVES.
THE ITALIANS DID IT, PEOPLE TEND TO FORGET THIS. THE ITALIANS DEPOSED MUSSOLINI AND FROM 1943 ON, THEY FOUGHT FACISM.
UNFORTUNATELY THE GTERMANS DIDN'T DO THAT, AND THAT IS SOMETHING I VERY MUCH REGRET. WE NEEDED THE HELP FROM OUTSIDE. THE MILITARY DEFEAT WAS NECESSARY TO HELP US." (GERMAN) The majority of Germans echo this view. Four out of five see their country's defeat as a liberation from dictatorship, including Chancellor Kohl.
(CHANCELLOR HELMUT KOHL) "NATURALLY IT WAS A LIBERATION, FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS IT MEANT LIBERATION. THAT WAS CERTAINLY HOW MY PARENTS SAW IT. BUT IT WAS NOT A LIBERATION FOR A 15-YEAR-OLD LIKE ME BECAUSE I COULD NOT REFLECT ON IT. BUT IT WAS LIBERATION FROM FEAR. THE WAR WAS OVER. I FELT THIS VERY STRONGLY." (GERMAN) The country's post-war education has led the majority to the liberation view with visits such as these. Schollchildren are brought to the Nazi extermination camps and are taught about the horrors of their nation's past, to ensure such crimes against humanity are never committed again. As part of their training, soldiers of the new German army are also brought to places like Dachau.
But some Germans reject the liberation view. The heated debate started three weeks ago with the publication of this manifesto, which presents the Germans as victims of the Nazis. Nationalist politicians and intellectuals who signed it say the German suffering should be recognised.
(ALEXANDER VON STAHL - FORMER STATE PROSECUTOR AND CONSERVATIVE MEMBER OF LIBERAL FREE DEMOCRATS - FDP) "THE FACT THAT ALL ITS CITIES WERE DESTROYED, THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DIED, ALSO THESE IN A RELATED WAY WERE VICTIMS OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM. THE PEOPLE DID NOT JUST CONSIST OF PERPETRATORS, THEY WERE VICTIMS AS WELL AND THEY CAN BE MOURNED FOR TOO. WHAT HAPPENED AFTER MAY 8, 1945 MAY HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY THE WAR, BUT THE QUESTION OF GUILT HAS TO BE JUDGED DIFFERENTLY." (GERMAN).
(STANDUPPER - COLLEEN CONNAUGHTON) "THIS MANIFESTO HAS ANGERED MANY IN THIS COUNTRY FOR WHAT IT FAILS TO MENTION - NAMELY THAT THE GERMANS WERE PRIMARILY RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR OWN SUFFERING AS MOST WENT ALONG WITH THE NAZIS. CRITICS ALSO ATTACK IT BECAUSE IT DOESN'T TALK ABOUT THE HORRORS GERMANY INFLICTED ON OTHERS." In a year of embarrassing anniversaries, the debate has shown the Germans are still struggling to find a way to come to terms with their history. It is a country where the past still haunts the present.
(WALTER SCHAEFER-KEHNERT) "WE HAD BEEN TRYING TO DO SOMETHING FOR THE FATHERLAND - I KNOW ONE CAN'T USE THAT WORD ANY MORE. ALL PATRIOTISM IS SUPPRESSED AND FOR THE OLD SOLDIERS THAT IS A VERY BAD FEELING." After five decades of democracy, most Germans see the Nazi's surrender as the day they were liberated from a reign of terror.
Others see it as a day of mourning and loss. But most would say that Hitler's defeat was necessary - necessary for a nation which needed to be liberated from a dictatorship they did not overthrow themselves. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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